Stadium’s capacity for Tuesday’s game reduced to 6,000 after stand's roof collapses

The damage Storm Ophelia inflicted on the Derrynane Road stand of Turner’s Cross stadium where Cork City will host Derry City on Tuesday night. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

Cork City’s game with Derry City, at which they hope to clinch the League of Ireland championship, will go ahead on Tuesday night despite storm damage at Turner’s Cross where the match will take place.

Storm Ophelia ripped half the roof off the Derrynane Road stand at the ground and caused the remaining half of the roof to collapse.

The game was originally due to be played on Monday night, but was postponed until Tuesday because of the storm.

The Football Association of Ireland said the Derrynane Road stand would be closed for the game, reducing the capacity from just over 7,000 to 6,000 for the game.

“An engineer visited the ground on Monday afternoon and while damage was done to a particular section, the rest of the stadium was not affected. The engineer approved the fixture proceeding once the necessary works are completed on Tuesday morning in clearing debris and the Derrynane Road stand remaining closed,” it said.

Damage

The damage at the Turner’s Cross venue was just one example of the impact caused by Storm Ophelia across Cork city and county.

Other buildings to suffer severe damage included the sports hall at Douglas Community School in Cork. Strong winds tore the metal roof from the building and dumped it into the yard of the secondary school which had been closed in line with the decision to shut all schools in the country following the status red weather alert issued on Sunday by Met Éireann.